Before
1947, Som Nath khosa was a Lahore based Kashmiri speaking successful commercial
artist earning good money by painting huge cinema banners. He belonged to Syed Ali Akbar locality of
Srinagar city. He had studied art at Sir Amar Singh Technical
Institute, Srinagar where his teachers included F H Andrews and J C Mukerjee. Frederick
Henry Andrews (1866–1957) was a British scholar and
author known for his catalogs of the Asiatic artifacts and manuscripts
collected by the expeditions of Aurel Stein.
Before coming to Kashmir, he was the vice-principal of the Mayo
School of Arts in Lahore. And
J C Mukerjee was a Bengali artist well versed in the famous Bengal School.
S N
Khosa’s father, Pandit Shambhu Nath
Khosa was a highly revered saint who took Sanyasa and moved to Hampi caves(
Karnataka ) where he was revered by locals as Swami Ji and Guru.His Kutiya has
become a pilgrimage centre at present known as .Shambhu Nath Guhe' .
After completing his course, he went to Lahore for his employment. Lahor was a commercial hub during those days. He joined Lahore’s film industry as commercial artist and started painting cinema banners .In a very short span of time, he acquired the status of ‘Art Director’ in cinema .Not satisfied with his cinema work, he left the cinema industry and joined the Civil And Military Gazette published from Lahore. The Civil and Military Gazette was a daily English-language newspaper founded in 1872 in British India. It was simultaneously published from Lahore, Shimla and Karachi. The Lahore edition of the paper was particularly notable because it served as the workplace of renowned British author and poet, Rudyard Kipling. Kipling, who joined the staff in 1882, referred to the Gazette as his “mistress and most true love.”
In Kashmir, he was also associated with the National Cultural Front. About his association with the Front, Padama-shri Pran Kishore Kaul writes this:-
“While the Independence of 1947 was being celebrated through the
length and breadth of the country, Kashmir was attacked by hordes of tribesmen
only a couple of months after the British left the shores of India. This became
a challenge for the defenceless people of Kashmir to get united and fight back.
This valour of unity turned into a cultural renaissance too. While people’s
aspirations, their struggle, their sacrifices became themes of literary works,
poetic compositions, and dramatic presentations the painters too got fully
charged to contribute to this Cultural Revolution. Artists, writers, and
political workers from different parts of the country came in groups and
individually too, to extend their support to the people of Kashmir. Painters
did not remain behind. The theatre workers, musicians, writers, and painters
got united under the umbrella of the ‘ National Cultural Front ‘ which was
started by some active members of the students movement like Qaiser Qalandher,
Salahuddin Ahmed, Pran Kishore, Prof Mahmood Hashmi, Girdhari Dhar, in a room
in the ‘Coronation Hotel’ , adjacent to the Palladium Cinema with the task of
writing big posters informing the people that Indian Army had arrived to save
Kashmir, Sher-i- Kashmir, Sheikh
Mohammad Abdullah had taken the charge as the Chief Administrator and the
tribal raiders and the Pakistan Army was
running for their life. This group of cultural workers was joined by Mohan Lal
Aima, Prem Nath Pardesi, Som Nath Zutshi, Pir Abdul Ahad and others. It got the
patronage of Khwaja Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq and a small budget from the
government for the day to day expenses. A wing of the exhibition building was
also allotted to it. Meanwhile, another group the’ National Militia’ led by two
elder brothers of Dr Naseer, Sham Ji and
Zameer Ahmad, along with Som Nath
Bira, Prof Apoorab Som Nath, Pran Nath Jalali, Moti Lal Misri and Pushkar Nath
Zadoo was organised and was allotted another wing. The artists of the’ Cultural
Front’ had three wings, one was music and drama wing, the second was, the
writers wing and the third was the painters wing. The painters wing was headed
by a renowned painter S N Khosa settled in Lahore who was on a painting mission
in Kashmir. His every belonging had been looted and his house was gutted in
Lahore at the time of the partition. And that was why he stayed back and joined
the movement. He was a master craftsman whose huge hoardings of Sheikh
Abdullah, Jawahar Lal Nehru, and Mahatma Gandhi were remarkable and were
displayed on the front side of the Palladium Cinema which had become the centre
of all the political activity. It was this wing of painters of which P N Kachru
had become a part along with another realistic painter G M Shad.”
He is best known for drawing portraits of Gandhi Ji and other National leaders and most of his work is on display in the institutions connected with Mahatama either in India or abroad.He was highly impressed by Gandhi ji as a person as also with his mission.For about 25 years, he continued to paint Gandhi jJ and events associated with the Mahatama. His depiction of Gandhi’s life mission was titled Azadi ka Devta, was published in a series by more than 20 National newspapers .He also drew portraits of many national leaders and freedom fighters including Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan.A grand exhibition of his work was held in 1958 in New Delhi. This exhibition was inaugurated by Lal Bahadur Shastri. Even Pandit jawahar lal Nehru remained an admirer of his work .There is hardly any gallery or museum connected with Gandhi Ji that does not display Khosa’s work.
GANDHI
JI’S IN HIS ART
Som Nath Khosa was highly
influenced by the life and the message of Mahatma Gandhi .He spent more than 20
years of his life painting various milestones in the Life of Gandhi Ji. These
paintings were exhibited by Government of India in various exhibitions across
the length and breadth of the country. One show named, ‘BAPU’ was inaugurated
by Lal Bahadur Shastri on 16th September, 1964. Another exhibition
named,’ GANDHI JI IN COLOURS ‘was inaugurated by Jagjivan Ram on 26th
January, 1970. One more show held inside Gandhi Sadan was inaugurated by V V
Giri on 2nd October, 1971. There were some more exhibitions of
Khosa’s paintings on Gandhi Ji. About
these paintings and exhibitions, noted artist Kashmiri Khosa (son
of Som Nath Khosa )has written this in
the special issue of Neelmatam magazine
( Issue 04, volume 14 ,July-September 2022):-
“From the very beginning of his
career as artist, my father was highly influenced and inspired by Gandhi Ji’s
role in the freedom movement of the country .Immediately after Mahatma’s
assassination, he painted a huge portrait of Gandhi Ji. He was in Srinagar at
that point in time. He painted with his
right hand holding a lantern in his left hand as the city had plunged into
darkness. The next day the portrait was exhibited at a centrally located place
in Lal Chowk in Srinagar .From that day, it became his dream to do some
monumental work on this great soul. Around 1958, he left the Times of India and
started collecting all the possible material on Gandhi Ji, like photographs,
books and other things .Since there was no colour photography during those days,
he started transforming rare instances of the Mahatma’s life into oil
paintings. He wanted to show the life of Mahatma Gandhi to the masses in colour
.This became his dream and ideal and he never looked back .He sold every
possible possession including
household utensils to support his
dream. While Government spent Lakhs to exhibit these painting, the artist was
not paid a single penny. Suffering from tuberculosis, he died in poverty and
unsung.”
Som Nath Khosa’s son, Kashmiri Khosa (born 1940) has been a professional painter since 1962 and has held many solo and group exhibitions in India and abroad. Inspired by the family tradition, Kashmiri Khosa reflects Indian philosophy in his language of modern art, which won him a ‘National Award’ in 1981 and President of India’s silver plaque in 1974. Kashmiri Khosa’s paintings are on display in many national and international art galleries and also in the significant collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Kala Parishad (Delhi ), College of Art ( Delhi ), International Airport Authority of India apart from being held by many private collectors in India, America, Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, England and many other countries of Europe. A documentary on his life and art was released by Doordarshan in 2003-2004.
About Kashmiri Khosa's work, the well-known art critic, Keshav Malik writes this:-
"The
figures that K Khosa draws are as if sculpted rather than painted. There is no
attempt to show off a painterly skill but merely the anxiety to explore the
timeless dimension, for his art is not that of a perfectionist and performer
but one in favour of regeneration of deeper self. There is stillness in his compositions,
the stillness at the heart of stones, in unpeopled spaces. It is the stillness
of the moon. Thus too, the figures-angelic or serene - in khosa’s work seem to
float in ether – that sacred postulate of deep self communing."
Som Nath Khosa was a close friend of Prem Nath Dar and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad .He was equally inspired by poetry of Master Zinda Kaul whom he happened to know very closely. A highly respected artist, Khosa passed on his artistic legacy to his brilliant son Kashmiri khosa who lives in Delhi and is an artist of National stature.
The entire progeny of Som Nath
Khosa is highly talented and engaged in various creative fields. His
grandchildren are also artists and highly creative individuals .Anjali Khosa
Kaul, (daughter of Kashmiri Khosa) is a sculptor and a painter whose works can
be seen in the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and with many private
collectors the world over. Rajan Khosa (son of Kashmiri Khosa) is a well-known
filmmaker and artist whose film ‘Gattu’ won many international awards and recognitions
including the ‘Best Feature Film’ (New York, Indian Film Festival -2012) and
‘Special Mention’ at the Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderhifswerk (Berlin
International Film Festival- 2012).
(Avtar Mota)
PS
For inputs .My special thanks to
Padamshri Pran Kishore Kaul. Padamshri Pran Kishore Kaul is a store house
of knowledge relating to development of music, art, theatre and drama in
Kashmir post 1947. Any story about development of drama, Theatre and Progressive
Writers movement in Kashmir is incomplete if it does not make clear mention of
his contribution
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.